I’ve learned a bit about art, I’ve met a bunch of great, artistic, and supportive people that seem to all really want to be here. The enthusiasm and work-ethic here is inspiring—heck, it’s almost intimidating sometimes. I feel like a slacker more often than not. But it’s that sort of environment of collective improvement which is the primary reason I’ve wanted to come here.

I’ll break it down by classes.

2D Design

Our professor is awesome. He gives valid and insightful crits and useful assignments which we are encouraged to take in our own direction, strongly aiding self-development. I really think I’m learning a lot from it and it’s opening my eyes to how desperately I need to improve my compositional and design skills. Such things, as I see it, are some of the most abstract concepts to learn in art. Even the sure-fire rules taught so often in design are broken with such ease by master artists that one begins to question what exactly makes good design. I plan to independently work on this subject during my break between this summer semester and the fall.

Moving on to actual work, here are a couple things I have done for 2D. The first here is a simply insane drawing of hands. Roughly 200 of them (give or take 50). If anyone actually wants to count all of them, I would greatly appreciate it. For now, let’s just say it’s a lot.

I’m happy with how I drew the hands and the composition of the piece, but I’m not sure the extreme black & white contrast is helping. In fact, it seems to flatten the piece. Oh well, it was good practice. 16 hours later…

A topic terribly interesting to our instructor is the concept of “radiation structures.” That is, for instance, spiraling patterns and such. Look it up, because I’m too lazy to keep defining. Alternately, look at this pretty picture (that would look better if it was a good picture of it).

Drawing

Our professor remains a fiery ball of energy. In a good way. Her teaching methods, though a tad scatter-brained, seem to cover the bases of good drawing theory: perspective, negative space, lighting—all the important stuff. Our homework assignments have been… odd. But at least our in class work remains normal enough.

The following are a couple pieces I did in class. Both are charcoal on newsprint.

3D Design

Meh.

My work in the class hasn’t been anything remarkable, and in some ways this is my least favorite course. Perhaps I anticipated that as my comfort and enjoyment lean towards the realm of two dimensions, but I think I would enjoy doing figurative sculptures in clay. Alas, the assignments—though open-ended—have not lent themselves towards that end. Maybe next time.

A great decision

Coming to RISD was the perfect decision for me. Yes, it was right to take a year off, but this year it all feels right. And now, back to the thing that consumes my life: work.

These little portraits were a real blast. I hadn’t gotten any real drawing homework for the first week, so this overnight assignment was a blast. The assignment called for five, “stamp-sized” self-portraits in whatever medium we desired (within reason, I suppose). I, of course, love doing portraits of any kind, so it was tons of fun.

This was actually a week long project for my 2D design class. We were told to paint the view outside our window, at night, including the window itself, anything on the window, and our reflection in the window. Moderately happy with this, though there are some things I would change on it.

Water and Fire go great together.

An apparent tradition of sorts in Providence is WaterFire, a nighttime spectacle in the canal. Created by an artist twenty or so years ago, it consists of separate bonfires lit in the middle of the canal. It was a truly beautiful sight. The sight of blazing fires, and the smooth reflections they cast into the water.

Almost enough to make me forget all the work I had to do. Almost.

My weeks during this semester consist of three classes, each a day and a half long. Thus, I’m in class 4.5 days a week, getting out about noon on Friday. It is, to put things lightly, exhausting. There’s always work to do, places to go, and never enough time to just sit around.

The beginning: 2D Design

Directly following a rambling and highly theoretical convocation, I had my first class of the week, which is 2D Design. Our classroom, thankfully, was right down the hall, thus removing any possibility of getting lost. The morning session was a relaxed, “here’s what we’re going to do, and now go get supplies” time. Our professor, Professor M (I’m going to try not to use full names—no sense in making people hate me), is a fantastic old guy who seems to really know what he’s talking about and is enthused to teach us. When we came back to class I began my very first RISD project… a color chart! Exciting!

I have since finished it (as I only got about half way through in class), and done a couple other things hardly worth mentioning. The next day we critiqued two pieces: a piece with three colored blocks intended to evoke some emotion—which, for the most part, were successful. And secondly, a weird, dull abstract painting with no imagery allowed that we were required to complete in under 30 minutes. It goes without saying that this painting was, in all honesty, a utter piece of trash. Which is probably good seeing as how he made us all take these hideous abstract paintings to the sink and wash the paint off. It almost felt good.

And then, Drawing

Our instructor for drawing, Professor D, is a really nice, short, intense lady who is, at seemingly all times, very, very excited. She is so intense that she will almost continuously move around the room commenting on our work. It’s great.

Drawing was drawing: just figure drawing on a very large scale (both in terms of model and paper). So large, actually, that she made us tie our charcoal to 3-foot sticks and use it to draw. Clumsy, but a good exercise all the same.

Our homework, though, is a subject of much interest. Where everyone else here is getting “normal” drawing class assignments—for instance, drawing—we’re getting writing and sculpture assignments. Really. That said, our sculpture assignment is very cool: translating the famous painting, “The Raft of the Medusa” into a clay sculpture. Can’t complain about that, but I do wish there was more drawing.

Lastly, 3D Design

I guess it’s important to have at least one sorta-hippie professor during one’s art school experience. Professor L, for lack of a better description, is like the art version of Mr. Rogers. Almost a Bob “happy trees” Ross personality. Our assignment is to solve the following: “volume, volume.” And yes, we’re all about as confused as you are about that. I don’t think it’s supposed to make sense.

…So, there we have it. I’ve survived a week of RISD with relative ease. I’m tired, I have work to do, and I frequently don’t know what I’m doing—but I love it here. The people, the atmosphere, everything is certain to foster an environment for improvement in arts.

Here’s to another week, and a restful weekend.

Check-in this morning was a smooth process, with pretty much everything going along easily. I lucked out with a single room (YES!!!), and have made it pretty homey around here. All ready to do some artwork—you know, the reason I’m here. My room is large enough for me, though there is an obnoxious slanted ceiling that means I can only walk upright in about one third of the room. But hey, it makes me feel less guilty about using that as a storage area.

Today has been a day of introductions and socialization. A lot of names, faces, majors, and places. My house has about 27 people living in it, of which are pretty much every sort of individual you could imagine. There was a tour (…meh), and a barbecue (yum!), and a boring RA meeting—which consisted mostly of our RA saying “don’t get caught.” Sweet.

Still tonight is an ice-cream social film-exhibition thingy, which I will most likely go to for free ice cream. After that is a hopefully restful night of sleep before a long, exciting day tomorrow. Whatever happens, at least I can gripe to the few people that I know.

A few parting words to New York

I loved my time in New York city, brief though it may have been. On the last day I was there I had the chance to see the Statue of Liberty up close. It’s a truly remarkable thing. Aside from a stunning piece of art, it effectively communicates that American independence so ingrained in our being. I loved it.

Also while I was in New York was the Bodies exhibit. From an artistic point of view, being able to see the muscles up close and without skin was purely awesome. From a human point of view, it was astonishing the complexity and apparent fragility of our bodies.

One more thing: diseased organs are nasty. Trust me.

A beautiful little town

My initial impression of Providence is a positive one. The buildings are old, the air is fresh, the canal is wonderful, the trees are plentiful. It all screams in unison of a New England town. Coming from beautiful Virginia, I naturally had worries about Providence being an ugly city with nothing more than dirty streets and tons of concrete. So far, it has been very far from that.

As I have time I plan to do a lot of walking around here, exploring all the nooks and crannies of the big, little city. Should be fun.

My family and I drove up yesterday from Virginia here to New York. The journey was largely uneventful, aside from noticing a gradual decline in road quality and a freshly burned truck on the side of the road. We came here for a couple reasons. First, my brother’s working here this summer. And second, I’ve never been here before, which gives us all the rights to be another one of those obnoxious tourists you see everywhere. Though, I would hazard to say we are not as much of a crime to fashion as they.

Today we walked. And walked. And walked. Sore feet not withstanding, we managed to see enough to stir up my creative juices and get me revved up for RISD. I got to to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art (or the Met, as intelligent people seem to refer to it as), which quickly and firmly set me in my place. I now fully understand that, in the grand scheme of things, I have a long way to go in my art. And that’s ok with me. The great thing about art is that it’s fun no matter how good (or bad) you are.

Quite a city

I’ve been to few smaller cities in my time, but none quite like New York. As people often say, New York has an energy to it. There is an inner life. There are always things happening, people going around, things to see—it truly never stops.

I’d almost say there’s too much energy, but then again I’m used to looking up at mountains, not skyscrapers.

That said, I really see the allure to living in this city (or any other active city). I could even see living here for a year or two. I have a few series of paintings in the back of my mind that New York has inspired me to do. But I couldn’t live here forever. For a short time I like life and energy and a fast pace, but I need my peace. I need my tranquility; my serenity.

So tomorrow I spend one final day in New York before heading off to the grand, though not quite so large, city of Providence.

RISD’s Drawing Assignment

I was home schooled as a child—a rearing that I am extraordinarily appreciative of. At about the age of 14 I began to take classes at the local community college, PVCC. I started, rather contrary to what you may think, taking computer programming classes. I loved them, and still cherish those times to this day. Over the next few years I amassed a number of credits, both in the “boring,” required areas, and the fun, exciting fields that I enjoyed (programming, design, and art).

Although, I never received a degree. This was largely because of my own disinterest in getting one, and my steadfast plan to transfer somewhere and take my credits with me. But where, oh where would I transfer?

An Important Decision

Back in 2006 (or, two years ago) I was at that point in everyone’s life where they begin to freak out about what they’re going to do with their lives. It happens to most people, except for the people who A. Have everything figured out or B. Just don’t care. But I’m not one of those. So I decided to spend a week doing nothing (that was easy) and try to determine what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Yes, it’s nice to be so young and stupid.

But, in the end it paid off. By week’s end I had determined that I wanted to be an artist—I simply loved to draw and paint far too much to not become an artist. For a long time I had leaned towards graphic and web design as a profession. I enjoyed designing and wasn’t too bad at it, but decided that as enjoyable as I found it, it didn’t hold a candle to painting.

So there it was, in just a week I had decided what I would enjoy most in life. Impressive, ain’t it?

Applying to School: Round 1

Putting things off till the last minute (and I mean the last) as I frequently do, I still managed to send in two different applications. One to VCU and one to my now beloved RISD. I sent one to VCU because it’s only a couple hours away, it’s far cheaper, and it’s still a fairly decent art school. RISD was just a hopeful application thinking that I might get in, and wouldn’t that just be sweet. The following is the portfolio I sent in.

These are the three required drawings specific for RISD:

Then the letters came.

VCU accepted me. They even eventually gave me a somewhat sizable scholarship. RISD, on the other hand, put me on the wait list. I gave up pretty much all hope of getting in there. Given that VCU was my best shot, I began to make plans to attend there.

VCU, due to some of their unfortunate policies, was hardly enticing me to go there. As it turns out, I was missing a couple classes they offer in their first year—classes which, to be perfectly frank, looked horrible. Since I was missing these classes, I would’ve had to attend VCU for an entire year before I was even able to take classes in my chosen major. In other words: I would have to waste an entire year there.

And then I got a phone call. RISD was offering me a spot. I had about three days to make my decision. Needless to say, this sent my life into pure insanity. I spent every waking moment thinking about my options. On the one hand was VCU—decent, cheap, but obnoxious. On the other was RISD—amazing, perfect, but extremely expensive. There was no easy answer. But at the end of those days I came to a decision: I would turn down RISD. I would also turn down VCU; I just couldn’t go there. I planned to take a year off and then reapply the year after. It felt like the perfect decision.

Round 2, and a Knockout

After a great year in which I did not just sit around and do nothing, it was time to once again apply to school. This time I threw all of my metaphorical eggs in one basket: I only applied to RISD. I explained that in the past year I had exhibited my art work, built a house with my father, and significantly improved my figurative skills. My portfolio was much, much better (I’ll add that to the next post).

One day, an envelope arrived at my door—far larger than previously. It even emblazoned “congratulations” on the outside. I opened to find an acceptance letter, as well as notification that I was to receive over $20,000 in scholarships.

My joy was unmatched: my dreams had been fulfilled.

I’ve never actually done any blogging before, so forgive me if I don’t do a few things right. Hopefully I can at least master the art of “Updating Regularly.” It’s certainly a difficult idea to master, one which many—and I mean many—people fail at, thus leaving vast expanses of the internet as desolate, one-post-a-few-years-ago, blog-graveyards.

I’d rather not suffer that fate.

The Design

The design of the site is done entirely by yours truly, and is powered by Wordpress. Wordpress has treated me fairly well so far, at least in the design phase. This being the first time using it, I had my worries, but they were largely unfounded.

I confess that the design is not entirely finalized, and I am more than open to suggestions and critiques and standing ovations. Let me have it.